


What Were They Like?

by Kunabee



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Discussions of death, Other, Past Murder, Past Suicides, fallen children are referenced, it's a heavy one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 23:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17538236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kunabee/pseuds/Kunabee
Summary: Frisk asks a heavy question.  How do you speak of the dead?





	What Were They Like?

**Author's Note:**

> it's a one shot. expect zero capitals.

"mom, what were the other fallen children like? the ones before me and after chara?"

toriel dropped the dish she was washing, and the ceramic shattered on the floor. she stared at it for a moment, looked up at frisk. the child had a questioning expression - but there was patience there, too, and the wisdom that toriel always felt belonged to someone as old as she was. not a child.

slowly she bent down, and frisk got a broom and dustpan.

"they were kind," she said, her voice soft. if she rose it she might lose it, this thread of thought. it hurt, it burned, still. they were all her children. "clever. brave. they were... good kids. really good kids."

and that was all she could say. the thoughts flew away from her like birds, leaving simplicity in their wake and not nearly enough. chara couldn't look at toriel, but it didn't matter since only frisk could see them. chara remembered some of the other fallen children, some of who they were but not enough to answer frisk's questions.

what were they like, indeed.

a few days later asgore got the question. frisk and him both working in his garden, weeding and tending. he went quiet for a long time, his sins weighing on his back.

(both frisk and chara knew the feeling.)

"they were all different," he said, "it's hard to say. they were..." another pause, a small smile. "madeline loved people. she cooked, fed them food, gave them love. she won everyone over. i couldn't kill her, in the end - i made her a royal chef and she flourished."

"but something happened," frisk prompted when he finished.

"three humans. there were three humans living underground at once. evan, madeline, and cody. all wonderful in their own ways. evan was so determined to find a way to break the barrier. he said, this isn't fair, we did the wrong thing. and cody wanted to study, wanted to learn, everything. evan started working with the royal scientist at the time. the royal scientist..."

asgore frowned deeply, shook his head. "i don't remember who they were. isn't that funny? i can remember some things so clearly, but not that..." he chuckled, but it was without humor.

"he found something. evan did, i mean. and he was enraged. so much anger... he changed his mind. madeline was the one who tried to stop him first, tried to stop him from what he planned to do, but she didn't succeed. cody did, but at a cost. the first three souls we got? they ended up killing each other." he shook his head. "oh, but evan... yellow soul, a justice soul, yet he reminded me so much of cha-"

he couldn't finish the name. tears rolled down his cheeks, fall off, buried in his fur. frisk didn't press anymore.

flowey was the third person frisk asked.

"why're you asking me?" the flower scoffed, leaves crossed. but frisk gave him that puppy-dog-eyes look and shifted his pot a little bit closer to the sunshine, and he finally sighed.

"i didn't meet all of them," he grumbled, "but the ones i did met... they were obnoxious. not determined, but they were difficult to deal with. monsters are predictable. humans are not. they were fun, for a while, until they started picking up on something going on. and then they just got in my way. miss little light blue soul ended up starting to wait for me where she was when i first saved. she was so determined to get my secrets, and patient enough to deal with reset after reset after reset. she started countin' them. that's where the smiley trashbag got his trick, she taught him how to read faces and people to see when time travel was going on. even after she died she was a pain."

"what about - blue soul, integrity? bravery, orange? dad talked about... justice, and kindness, and perseverance, i think," frisk pressed.

flowey sighed. "emma. the blue soul was emma. she was as bad as you. she was honest to a fault, wouldn't keep me secret. didn't keep anything secret. with papyrus-like levels of..." he waved his leaves and made a disgusted face. frisk giggled. flowey was soulless, he couldn't feel love and compassion and friendship, but they knew he still liked papyrus in his own way.

"hard not to like her. she loved putting on ballet shows. royal guard got her though, took her to the king. and he killed her, because he was afraid and he also had a promise to keep." flowey shook his head. "i loaded again and again and again, trying to keep her from getting caught, trying to keep her alive, trying to work with her on what to say to keep her life. none of it worked. in the end, the king killed her every. single. time. he just cried a lot."

he was done talking and that left frisk with questions. what was the orange soul like? she turned back to toriel.

"what were the kids' names?" she asked one day, this time while toriel wasn't holding something breakable.

"madeline fell first. then evan. cody. samson. emma. rose," she recited, after a long silence. it seemed a lot of silence surrounded the fallen children.

"what was samson like?" frisk asked, hoping for answers.

"impatient. brave. he was always rushing around, a hurricane. no matter how many warnings i gave him, he wasn't afraid. he wasn't afraid of anything..."

toriel trailed off, staring at the wall, and frisk left her to her thoughts. they had their answers.

they wished they could have met them, could have had the big family. they had flowey, and chara, but... it was hard. flowey was a flower - asriel was gone. chara was a ghost. and frisk was the monster ambassador, a kid with a heavy duty and too much responsibility on their shoulders.

what would the other kids think?

"be proud, probably. they all wanted to help the monsters, at least at one point," chara said.

frisk thought about that.

maybe that's why they fell.

the souls had unfinished business, and now they had moved on. there were just memories. wherever the souls were...

frisk hoped chara was right. that the souls were proud of them. that they were happy.

and they kept wondering: what were they like?

**Author's Note:**

> this is canon to no other works either published or in progress on my end. it's a lonely little one shot.


End file.
